156 



♦ KNOWLKDGE ♦ 



[Mat 1, 1888. 



five. He now inoculated all fifty with the strongest anthrax 

 poison, predicting that within twenty-four hours, or before 

 six o'clock the next day, the twenty-five whicli were inocu- 

 lated for the first time would all be dead, while the others 

 would be perfectly well. A large number of cattle pro- 

 prietors, veterinary surgeons, cavalry officers, and others 

 interested in animals, gathered next day on the field where 

 were the subjects of the experiment. At two o'clock 

 twenty-three of the unprotected sheep were dead ; the 

 twenty-fourth died at three ; the twenty-fifth at four. But 

 the twenty-five vaccinated sheep were all in perfectly good 

 condition. One of them, who had been purposely inocu- 

 lated with an extra dose of the poison, had been slightly 

 indisposed for a few hours, but he was now as well as the 

 rest. 



It is hai'dly necessary to say that the experiment was 

 regarded as decisive. Cattle owners needed no persuasion 

 to induce them to adopt Pasteur's system. 



Pasteur's researches in regard to hydrophobia are in some 

 respects still more interesting, because they relate to a 

 malady which is derived directly from external matter, not 

 prop.agated from disease germs. It would not be possible 

 to describe here the way in which Pasteur dealt with the 

 original inquiry into the part microljes play in this terrible 

 malady ; or to discuss the various processes which he tried 

 for cultivating the hydi'ophobie microbe into a form which 

 should be innocuous yet protective. All the world now 

 knows that he has succeeded. In case protection cannot be 

 secured by a single inoculation, as with small-pox and 

 anthrax, a series of inoculations have to be performed, each 

 more stringent, so to speak, than the preceding, until at last 

 the inoculations are such as woiild kill a patient not pre- 

 pared by previous inoculations. 



The difficulty in cases of hydrophobia, so far as inocula- 

 tory cure is concerned, is that the full poison has been 

 already received by the system, may even have been at work 

 for many days, before the milder forms of the poison are 

 injected. It might well have been supposed that the fatal 

 first-comer would be first in its action, and therefore death 

 inevitable. Probably Pasteur had little liope at the 

 beginning of his researches that he could cure the bitten, 

 expecting only to protect the unbitten. But it turned out 

 otherwise. Pasteur's system may be regarded as now a 

 demonstrated success. "The proportion of deaths among the 

 cases dealt with has been so much smaller than among 

 similar numbers not protected by Pasteur's method as to 

 assure us of the protective value of his system even at this 

 early stage of its adoption ; while the cases in which the 

 system has failed have been without exception such as from 

 the beginning presented small room for hope, the bites being 

 exceptionally severe, or on the head, or by mad wolves, and 

 the interval before the protective system was employed being 

 unduly long. Professor Ray Lankester correctly presented 

 the results of Pasteur's work when he said that " unless we 

 assume falsehood, such as for wickedness and folly would 

 scarcely ever have been equalled, we must recognise Pasteur 

 as having obtained results which of themselves will for ever 

 place him high among the benefactors of the human race." 



Lockjaw, though it is usually the result of wounds given 

 by substances not likely to convey disease germs into the 

 system, is beginning to be recognised as due to microbes 

 already existing in the blood, and made actively mis- 

 chievous by local intiammation around the wound, generally 

 lacerated, which is the original cause of the trouble. 

 Whether any method of ti-eatment will hereafter be sug- 

 gested by this discovery, should it be eventually demonstrated 

 to be real, remains to be seen. 



We are justified in believing that as protection has 

 already been found against some germ diseases by taking 



advantage of naturally cultivated (and mitigated) germs as 

 in the case of small-pox, or of artificially cultivated germs 

 as in the case of anthrax, so protection may be obtained 

 against cholera, diphtheria, typhus, scarlet fever, and other 

 more or less destructive diseases which have been clearly 

 shown to be due to specific disease germs. 



FAIRIES, ELVES, AND DWARFS. 



By Stella Occidens (Mary Peoctoe). 



Like that PygmiBan race 

 Beyond the Indian mount, or fairy elves 

 Whose midnight revels by a forest side 

 Or fountain some belated peasant sees 

 (Or dreams ho pees), while overhead the moon 

 Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 

 Wheels her pale course ; they on their mirth and dance 

 Intent, with jocund music charm his ear. 

 At once with joy and fear his heart reboun'"''s. 



Paradise Lost. 



LVES and dwarfs, though minute in them- 

 selves, yet form a prominent part in the 

 folk-lore of Europe, and many wondrous 

 legends concerning these beings have been 

 lianded from ages down ; a nurse's tale, 

 Which children open-eyed and mouth'd devour. 

 And thus, as garrulous ignorance relates. 

 We learn it and believe. 



In Scandinavian mythology Alfheim is the home of the 

 light elves, who are fairer than the sun, and about whom 

 we hear very little. The dark elves live underground in 

 Svartalfaheim, and are blacker than pitch. They are full 

 of mischief, but can be good-natured little beings when they 

 wish. Their sooty appearance is explained by the flict that 

 they work in the mines underground, and forge metals 

 which are found in the caves and mountains. These dwarfs, 

 it is supposed, are very skilful in metal-work, and also in 

 magic, on which account they are greatly feared by the 

 peasants, who dare not provoke them. ]\Iany years ago 

 the dwarfs had a great conflict with superior beings, and 

 being defeated, were compelled to dwell in the caves and 

 underground. From other accounts we read that they were 

 formerly a race of Oriental Lapps, who immigrated into 

 Sweden and Norway later than the Finns, who were the 

 descendants of the giants, and are therefore the oldest of the 

 races that now occupy Scandinavia. 



The dwarfs who dwell in the mountains are reported to 

 own vast treasures of gold and silver, whilst the chambers 

 of their palaces are supported by jasper columns, and the 

 walls glisten with crystals and precious stones. In foct, 

 these little beings have been actually seen pushing large 

 chests full of gold and silver from one hill to another, in 

 preparation for one of the grand entertainments they often 

 have among themselves. They do not like noise, and it is 

 supposed that their almost total disappearance from the 

 country is due to the ringing of church bells. The elves 

 or hill-people are an entirely diff'erent race, though they 

 also live in mountains and caves, aie very rich, and have a 

 great dislike for noise. They do not work in the mines, 

 but love music and dancing. They are commonly called 

 huMrefolk, and their music is called hukheslmit. On 

 summer nights, when the moon is shining, they can be 

 heard on the elfin hills, and those who have been fortunate 

 enough to hear them say that their music is mournful and 

 chanted in a minor key. If a word should be spoken 

 during their song, it will be turned into w.ailing, as by this 

 their hope of salvation is destroyed. The peasants believe 

 that these beings contain the souls of the departed who 

 thus expiate their sins on earth. Some of the Norse fiddlera 



